Cherry Valley massacre

The Cherry Valley massacre occurred on 11 November 1778 during the American Revolutionary War. A mixed force of Loyalists, British soldiers, Seneca, and Mohawks under Walter Butler descended upon the Cherry Valley in New York, intending to raid the American frontier settlement. Butler exercised little control over the Indians on the expedition, with his authority being undermined by Seneca anger at the accusations that they had committed atrocities at the Battle of Wyoming and the colonists' retaliatory destruction of Unadilla, Onaquaga, and Tioga, as well as by Butler's poor treatment of Mohawk leader Joseph Brant.

The Cherry Valley was protected by a 300-strong garrison of a palisaded fort under the command of Ichabod Alden, and the Americans ignored warnings about the approach of the British raiding party. The Indians promised to not harm noncombatants, but they began the battle by attacking settlers who were chopping wood. Alden and several of his soldiers were killed as they ran from the Wells house to the fort, with Alden being killed by a tomahawk thrown into his forehead after his wet pistol misfired. Most of the soldiers and the entire Wells household were slaughtered, and William Stacy was taken as a prisoner; the next morning, 70 captives (including women and children) were taken from Cherry Valley as the town was torched. The brutality shown towards the settlers of Cherry Valley led to the Sullivan Expedition of 1779.